reviews

Sleeping in a hammock is a unique way to experience the woods. When out camping, practising bushcraft or even just to relax in. As winter creeps closer the temperatures will drop, especially at night. Retiring our hammock passion simply because it’s getting colder is not an option. So we need something to keep us cosy when in a hammock. The Thermarest Slacker Snuggler enables you to sleep out in a hammock throughout the year whilst staying warm and comfortable. Let’s take a closer look.

The most robust designs are the simplest, as lower complexity in a system means there is less to fail. When you have to depend on kit it is vital to have something lacking in superfluous attributes. These soon break when you need them most leaving you short.

Esee have used some of the most tried and tested designs in the world to produce the Camp-Lore line of outdoor knives. The Esee RB3 is one of the most competent all round items of this line up. Let’s take a closer look.

The Karrimor SF Predator 80 – 130 is perfect for those longer trips in the backcountry, most recently I have used this rucksack in Finnish Lapland for a winter snowshoeing trip.

It’s a large, very durable and no nonsense expedition rucksack that is able to carry heavy loads long distances. Operating in colder conditions means you have to take more gear and supplies with you to be comfortable and operate effectively, all this requires a rucksack that you can depend on.

A neck knife makes the difference when out and about in the woods. It is so convenient to be able to access an outdoor tool when it’s worn right in front of you. In this review we will look at the Esee Izula.

A neck knife is always there when you need it, your tool for opening packets, carving notches, scraping tinder, chopping vegetables, dressing game and so on. Neck knives are not normally used for the harder tasks like splitting wood, that would be where your main knife would take over.

For extreme cold, nothing beats a mitt. Having all your fingers sharing warmth keeps your hands protected in the most testing of environments. This is a full review and field test on the Hestra Helags Sr Mitt.

There is an art to sleeping in a hammock with several factors having to be spot on to make it a comfortable night: the height and angle of the tree attachment straps, roll mat and under quilt all playing their part. The angle we lie in the hammock is also critical to being cosy, we do not want to be in a banana shape all night! This is a full review and field test of the Thermarest Slacker Hammock Pad.

This was SpyderCo’s first ever Scandinavian grind full tang knife, specially designed for a woodland bushcraft environment. It was produced in collaboration with Bushcraft UK, a “tactical bushcrafter” called Chris Claycombe and SpyderCo designers. The anticipation for this knife to hit the market was considerable. Lots of people were excited to get their hands on a true bushcraft knife from one of the worlds top brands. The SpyderCo Bushcraft G10 Handle certainly had a lot to live up to. It’s therefore interesting that with such a wide team of contributors and the considerable resources at SpyderCo there could be so many issues with this product.

The Hestra Tactility Glove is an extremely dextrous and comfortable pair of outdoor and bushcraft gloves. They are a pleasure to be put to use on a wide variety of outdoor tasks such as working with wood, holding tools, grasping walking poles and keeping the cold at bay when out and about. Read our full review and field test.

Spending time outdoors the environment takes its toll on our skin, hair and one’s odour. Taking care of these aspects is easy when close to home but when out on expedition and especially the longer ones it becomes harder. I am very interested in natural based cosmetic solutions and I feel resorting to harsh chemicals and metals to use on oneself is not the answer when in town or in the backcountry.

Ember Survival

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